Civic leaders, Cal Poly officials and the school's students plan to meet today to begin assessing the future of Poly Royal, an annual campus festival marred by two straight nights of rioting last weekend. About 110 youths were arrested and 100 injured in the disturbances, authorities and hospital officials said. One Cal Poly student suffered a serious head injury and was listed in stable condition Sunday night at a local hospital.

Springtime is peak season for wildflowers -- and for the throngs of people eager to see the eye-catching displays around California. "This year will be particularly good because of the winter rainfall we've had, which will bring all the spring annuals to bloom," says Naomi Fraga, botanical field studies coordinator at Claremont's Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, home to the largest collection of native California flowers.

A Chico man was sentenced Monday to a year in jail for his role in last May's Rancho Chico Days rioting. Superior Court Judge Lloyd Mulkey gave the sentence, the maximum allowed, to Robert Rasmussen, 28, who was convicted last month on misdemeanor charges of assault on a peace officer and rioting. Rasmussen had been charged with felony assault on a peace officer but jurors convicted him on the misdemeanor charge instead. He was accused of throwing a rock at police.

Gov. Pete Wilson says if voters think about it, they will view the Los Angeles riots as proof that the welfare system needs to be reformed and back his sweeping ballot initiative in November. It is a strained link--riots and welfare--and the Republican governor is not claiming that the nation's worst urban violence of this century was directly caused by the dole. But he does see a connection between government dependency, absence of personal responsibility, lack of values and brutal disorder.

An abandoned Berkeley house that became the focus of clashes between homeless protesters and police was demolished as the University of California moved swiftly to prevent activists from re-occupying the property, officials said. The university-owned house south of campus was torn down one day after protesters stormed through the neighborhood setting trash fires and battling helmeted police in the worst confrontations since the 1986 anti-apartheid riots, the university said.

The strange odyssey of paroled rapist Lawrence Singleton continued Monday when an angry mob forced authorities to evacuate him from the studio apartment he had taken three days before in the small Contra Costa County town of Rodeo. Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies hustled the 59-year-old parolee out the back door of the apartment building to avoid trouble from a rock-throwing crowd estimated at 400 that had gathered to protest Singleton's presence.

Thirty people were arrested and at least one police officer was injured during what Berkeley police said was a riot set off by a series of charges by nearly 400 masked demonstrators on phalanxes of police officers near the University of California campus. It was the third such demonstration in five months by protest groups, said Berkeley Police Lt. Michel de Latour.

Gov. Pete Wilson says if voters think about it, they will view the Los Angeles riots as proof that the welfare system needs to be reformed and back his sweeping ballot initiative in November. It is a strained link--riots and welfare--and the Republican governor is not claiming that the nation's worst urban violence of this century was directly caused by the dole. But he does see a connection between government dependency, absence of personal responsibility, lack of values and brutal disorder.

UC Berkeley has dropped its controversial plan to build a dormitory on "People's Park" and will lease much of the property a symbol of student radicalism and haven for the homeless--to the city of Berkeley as open space, according to an agreement signed this week. A still undetermined portion of the 2.8-acre plot behind Telegraph Avenue will be kept under University of California control for recreation and informal sports.

An annual celebration at California State University, Chico, erupted into a riot this weekend as more than 2,000 students and others smashed windows, stomped on cars and hurled bottles at police, authorities said. Local hospitals treated 32 people, including at least two police officers, mostly for cuts sustained from broken glass. Police said 37 people were arrested on charges of unlawful assembly, failing to disperse and assault on a peace officer or firefighter.

A Chico man was sentenced Monday to a year in jail for his role in last May's Rancho Chico Days rioting. Superior Court Judge Lloyd Mulkey gave the sentence, the maximum allowed, to Robert Rasmussen, 28, who was convicted last month on misdemeanor charges of assault on a peace officer and rioting. Rasmussen had been charged with felony assault on a peace officer but jurors convicted him on the misdemeanor charge instead. He was accused of throwing a rock at police.

Rioting during the Rancho Chico Days weekend this month cost the city about $80,000 in directly related expenses, officials estimate. The Chico City Council was advised of the sum this week during a hearing on whether to continue the annual spring celebration or to scrap it because of heavy drinking and disturbances. Rioting during the May 4-6 weekend resulted in 93 arrests of young people, many of them students at Cal State Chico.

Four people have filed complaints that police used excessive force to quell a drunken rampage by 1,000 beer-swilling youths last weekend, Police Chief John Bullerjahn said Wednesday. Bullerjahn said police will investigate the complaints, but declined to discuss details of the incidents. He blamed the riot squarely on the 94 people arrested during the two-day clash that marred the city's annual spring celebration, Rancho Chico Days.

A party outside a student apartment complex near Cal State Chico erupted into a violent confrontation between revelers and police that resulted in 65 arrests and several dozen minor injuries, authorities said Saturday. Chico police, joined by reinforcements from more than a dozen neighboring law enforcement agencies, struggled for 5 1/2 hours to control the crowd that swelled from 500 people late Friday to more than 1,000 before dawn on Saturday, authorities said.

An annual college festival at Cal Poly that began in 1933 was canceled indefinitely Monday by campus officials after a weekend of rioting that led to about 110 arrests and caused more than 100 injuries. After a meeting Monday of San Luis Obispo civic leaders, campus officials and students, university President Warren Baker announced that the festival--called Poly Royal--will be canceled next year. Its future then will be reviewed.

Civic leaders, Cal Poly officials and the school's students plan to meet today to begin assessing the future of Poly Royal, an annual campus festival marred by two straight nights of rioting last weekend. About 110 youths were arrested and 100 injured in the disturbances, authorities and hospital officials said. One Cal Poly student suffered a serious head injury and was listed in stable condition Sunday night at a local hospital.

UC Berkeley has dropped its controversial plan to build a dormitory on "People's Park" and will lease much of the property a symbol of student radicalism and haven for the homeless--to the city of Berkeley as open space, according to an agreement signed this week. A still undetermined portion of the 2.8-acre plot behind Telegraph Avenue will be kept under University of California control for recreation and informal sports.

A group of between 200 and 400 rioters in Berkeley who broke store windows, overturned trash bins and threw rocks at police were denounced by area homeless, police and demonstration organizers for turning what was intended as a peaceful march for the homeless into a melee that resulted in 30 arrests. The event turned violent after police in riot gear rebuffed demonstrators attempting to occupy the fire-gutted Berkeley Inn and an abandoned ROTC building on the UC Berkeley campus.